Good people of Chiclayo

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Chiclayo

After weeks of inactivity, I’ve decided to return to the world of blogging and try to remember what we did while in Peru……if the words aren’t all there, at least the photos are here to give you a bit of a visual idea of what my eyes saw while in Peru. So we begin with Chiclayo.

We entered Chiclayo mid-day after a relatively short (about 4 hours) bus ride from Mancora. The first thing we noticed was that Chiclayo is a big city set in the middle of a dry desert, with many white and light coloured buildings. The minute we stepped off the bus we felt the blazing heat, and were greated by a friendly taxi driver named Herbert who welcomed us to his city, known nationally as the capital of friendship. After helping us find a nice and new hotel to stay in, he offered to drive us around to all the tourist spots the next day, including all the museums and ruins in the area for a cheap $10 each. That night we went out to eat at the best chicken spot we have eaten at so far, a place called Don Carlos, which served enormous sized brazed chicken with a plate of chunky fries for a very cheap price. We also got to try a really tasty chicha morada, which is a typical Peruvian drink made of purple corn. Its really sweet and tasty, and brings me back to my early days of my childhood when my family used to make it on the regular. So that evening after filling up with some good food we decided to call it a night and get some good rest to prepare for the touristy-day that awaited us in the morning.

We woke up the next day to the sound of drilling and construction from next door. We were hungry again so we went up the block from the hotel and were greeted by a nice old lady who invited us into her house/restaurant patio for some breakfast. She also had a side business of renting out traditional Peruvian clothing for festivals and dances, and let us try on some ponchos and typical Andean clothing for some photo shots. After a healthy breakfast we met up with our patient taxi driver and went out to check out the local museums and ruins which had many pre-columbian artifacts that were thousands of years old. We learnt more about the pre-incan cultures that existed, and it was interesting but after the 2nd museum we had enough and decided to go back to the city for some more good eats. That afternoon our taxi driver insisted that we go eat lunch at his friends house that was near one of the ruins....the chicken that they had would be fresh. We even got to choose which alive chicken we would eat....after pointed at the fattest one they chopped its head off and began to peel and cook it for us....we went to the museum nearby and when we returned it was ready. it was actually really disgusting and the food was gross....so i made room in my belly for dinner. some real chicken from don carlos.

The next day we left for Cajamarca (more in the next blog) for a couple of days before returning to Chiclayo for another round. This time around we found a restaurant that had WI-FI, so we spent an entire day at the restaurant writing emails and sipping on Inca Colas. We made friends with a nice waitress named Luciana, and she invited us to go out dancing with her and her friends in celebration of her upcoming birthday. That night we went out to the discotech and danced with Luciana and her friends all night. It was fun hanging out in a Peruvian environment with Peruvians, they were all very good people and really made sure that we had a good time. We followed that day with a day at the famous beach Pimentel, but because it was low season it was very empty...but nice at least. Overall we had some good times in Chiclayo. That experience solidified that Chiclayo is indeed the capital of friendship, as everyone was very warm and welcoming to us. I will definitely come back here one day….

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